| Course | GB512 Business Communications |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 6 |
| Paper type | Report proposal |
| Length | About 750 words, 5 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for GB512 Unit 6
Twelve of Forty Vans: A Unit 6 Report Proposal on Electric Delivery Vans for a Beverage Distributor
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
GB512: Business Communications
Unit 6 Report Proposal
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The beverage distributor, its fleet and every figure are composite and illustrative; the sources cited are real.
Memo
TO: Alan Brooks, Chief Operating Officer, Coldwater Beverage Distributors FROM: Marcus Hale, Operations Analyst DATE: September 9 SUBJECT: Proposal for a report on electric delivery vans for urban routes
The Problem
Coldwater operates 40 diesel delivery vans from its main depot, serving restaurants, convenience stores and bars across the metropolitan area. Fuel and maintenance costs on the oldest vans have risen each of the last three years, from about $9,400 per van in 2022 to about $11,200 in 2024. Twelve vans reach the end of their planned service life within two years and must be replaced. Before the company buys twelve more diesel vans, it should know whether electric vans would cost less over their lives and could run the same routes.
Why Now
The timing matters for three reasons. Replacement vans for the first six retirements must be ordered by March to arrive before the summer peak, when the oldest vans break down most often. Two of the incentives available for commercial electric vans have funding that runs out on a first-come basis. And the depot's electrical service is due for inspection next spring, which would be the cheapest moment to add capacity for chargers. If the company waits a year, it will have bought twelve diesel vans that it will keep for eight years.
Purpose
The report will determine whether Coldwater should replace some or all of the twelve vans due for retirement with electric models, and if so, how many and on which routes.
Scope
The report will cover the twelve urban delivery vans due for replacement, the routes they run, the depot's capacity to charge them and the incentives available. It will not cover the long-haul tractors that resupply the depot from the brewery and bottlers, whose routes and duty cycles are very different, or the sales team's cars.
Research Questions
Cost. How does the five-year total cost of owning an electric delivery van compare with a diesel van, including purchase, energy, maintenance and incentives?
Range. Can available electric vans complete Coldwater's current routes, including in winter, without midday charging?
Charging. What chargers and electrical upgrades would the depot need, and at what cost?
Incentives. Which federal and state incentives apply to commercial electric vans, and what conditions do they carry?
Each research question matches one reason the chief operating officer might say no, so the report can answer every objection before it is raised.
Method
The report will draw on four kinds of evidence. Coldwater's own fleet records will give fuel, maintenance and mileage for each van over three years. Route data from the dispatch system will give daily miles for every route. Published research will supply cost and performance benchmarks, including Argonne National Laboratory's total cost of ownership study and the International Energy Agency's analysis of the electric vehicle market (Burnham et al., 2021; International Energy Agency, 2024). Quotes from two van dealers and an electrical contractor will give current prices for vehicles and chargers. Interviews with the fleet manager and two senior drivers will add practical concerns, such as where vans park overnight and how long loading takes.
Limitations
The report will rely on one year of route data and three years of cost records, which may not capture unusual years. Electric van prices are changing quickly, so dealer quotes will be valid only for a few months. And cold-weather range estimates will come from published research and manufacturers rather than from Coldwater's own vans, since it has none to test.
What the Report Will Deliver
The final report will give the chief operating officer a recommendation on how many vans to replace with electric models, which routes they should serve, what the depot needs and what the company should expect to spend and save. It will include an executive summary that can stand alone for the leadership meeting.
Schedule
The annotated outline will be complete in Unit 7, the full report in Unit 8 and a presentation for the leadership meeting in Unit 9.
Sources
Wayne Booth and colleagues recommend that a research proposal list sources that are current, credible and relevant to each question (Booth et al., 2016). The initial list is below.
References
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., Williams, J. M., Bizup, J., & FitzGerald, W. T. (2016). The craft of research (4th ed.). University of Chicago Press.
Burnham, A., Gohlke, D., Rush, L., Stephens, T., Zhou, Y., Delucchi, M. A., Birky, A., Hunter, C., Lin, Z., Ou, S., Xie, F., Proctor, C., Wiryadinata, S., Liu, N., & Boloor, M. (2021). Comprehensive total cost of ownership quantification for vehicles with different size classes and powertrains (ANL/ESD-21/4). Argonne National Laboratory.
International Energy Agency. (2024). Global EV outlook 2024.
What the GB512 Unit 6 assignment asks for
GB512 Unit 6 asks you to propose a formal report that will answer one business question. Address the memo to the decision maker who will read the final report. State the problem with evidence and say why the decision is due now. Write a one-sentence purpose. Set scope, saying what the report will and will not cover. Pose three or four research questions, ideally matched to the reasons the reader might hesitate. Describe your method and sources, including internal records, published research and interviews. Note the limitations you expect, describe what the final report will deliver and map the work to the remaining units. Close with a preliminary list of credible sources. Expect two to four pages in memo format, citing sources in APA 7.
How this GB512 Unit 6 example is built
The memo from Marcus Hale to Alan Brooks states the problem: forty diesel vans, rising per-van costs and twelve retirements within two years. A section on timing notes that vans must be ordered by March, voucher funds are first come and the depot's service inspection is next spring. The purpose and scope follow, excluding long-haul tractors and sales cars. Four research questions cover five-year cost, winter range on current routes, depot charging and incentives, and the highlighted sentence explains that each answers a likely objection. The method lists fleet and dispatch records, Burnham and colleagues' cost study, the International Energy Agency's outlook, dealer and contractor quotes and interviews with the fleet manager and drivers. Limitations, deliverables and the schedule to Units 7, 8 and 9 follow, with Booth and colleagues on choosing sources.
GB512 Unit 6 rubric: what earns full points
GB512 instructors look for a proposal narrow enough to finish and aimed at one reader's decision. A problem with evidence and a reason for timing earns early credit. A one-sentence purpose and clear scope boundaries show focus. Research questions matched to the reader's likely concerns carry weight, because they shape a report the reader will trust. A method naming specific internal and external sources shows the research is feasible. Stating limitations in advance shows honesty. A schedule tied to the remaining units and a credible source list complete the proposal. Booth and colleagues' The Craft of Research, Burnham and colleagues' Argonne study and the International Energy Agency's Global EV Outlook supply the references in APA 7.
GB512 Unit 6 help from the desk
Many GB512 Unit 6 proposals choose a topic too broad to answer, such as electric vehicles in business. Others name no reader, so the report has no decision to serve. A common gap is the research questions: questions that do not match what the decision maker will ask produce a report that misses the point. Some proposals list sources that are not credible or not relevant. Address a real reader, state the problem and timing, write one purpose sentence, set scope, pose questions matched to the reader's concerns, describe sources and limits and map the schedule.
Get a GB512 Unit 6 example written to your instructions
Proposal instructions for Unit 6, your GB512 rubric, and the business problem you have in mind are all it takes. A report proposal with purpose, scope, questions, schedule, and an APA source list comes back in 24 to 48 hours. The first sample is free, and it sets up the report units that follow. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More GB512 papers and MBA samples
- GB512 Unit 1: Diagnostic Business Message
- GB512 Unit 2: Audience Rewrite Exercise
- GB512 Unit 3: Routine Business Memo
- GB512 Unit 4: Bad-News Business Letter
- GB512 Unit 5: Persuasive Business Memo
- GB512 Unit 7: Annotated Report Outline
- GB512 Unit 8: Formal Business Report
- GB512 Unit 9: Business Presentation Deck
- GB512 Unit 10: Communication Course Reflection
- GB513 Unit 4:
- GB500 Unit 6: SWOT and TOWS Analysis
GB512 Unit 6 questions, answered
How narrow should the report topic be?
Narrow enough to answer one decision for one reader with the research time left in the term. Whether a regional distributor should electrify twelve vans works; electric vehicles in business does not. GB512 instructors often send broad proposals back for narrowing, so a finished example shows how a scope statement and exclusions keep the report manageable.
Do I need to use a real company for the report?
Many GB512 sections allow a real workplace, a public company, or a realistic invented one. Invented scenarios work well when their facts come from real public sources, such as government cost data, and any internal figures are labeled as illustrative. Your instructions decide what is acceptable, and some sections assign one scenario to everyone.
How many sources does the proposal need?
Preliminary lists in this course typically hold five to eight entries, though some prompts fix a number. Quality matters more than count: government data, peer-reviewed studies, and recognized industry research carry more weight than blogs. The list can change as research continues, and later units usually expect it to grow.
Where can I find a free GB512 Unit 6 sample paper?
This page carries a full GB512 Unit 6 report proposal on electric delivery vans for a beverage distributor, with purpose, scope, four research questions, method and APA 7 references.
Why exclude the long-haul tractors?
Their routes and duty cycles are very different from urban delivery vans, and including them would widen the report beyond what the twelve retiring vans require. Narrow scope keeps the report answerable in the remaining units.